MIDDLE EAST: IRIN-ME Weekly round-up 113 for 9 February – 15 February 2007
18 Feb 2007 07:03:46 GMT Source: IRIN
DUBAI, 18 February (IRIN) - CONTENTSIRAQ: New security plan could make more
homeless
IRAQ: Former vice-president death sentence unlikely to fuel violence
IRAQ: Fighters fill humanitarian vacuum
IRAQ-UAE: Broken dreams for Iraqi children
IRAQ: Armed groups occupy hospitals
and kidnap doctors
IRAQ: Palestinians say gov't cannot protect them
IRAQ-JORDAN: Healing the brutal face of war
IRAQ: Child beggars proliferate in Baghdad
ISRAEL-OPT: More Palestinians entering
Israel on health grounds
ISRAEL-LIBERIA: Refugees appeal to government to extend stay
LEBANON: Razor wire and soldiers keep factions apart
LEBANON: Pro-government group urges peace after deadly
bombing IRAQ: New security plan could make more homeless As part of its newly declared security crackdown to put an end to the relentless violence that threatens to divide the capital along
sectarian lines, the Iraqi government has ordered the return of illegally seized houses of displaced families. http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70208 IRAQ: Former vice-president
death sentence unlikely to fuel violence The United Nations and human rights groups have condemned the death sentence passed on Monday against Iraq's former vice-president, Taha Yassin Ramadan,
while most ordinary Iraqis are happy to see him hang. http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70181 IRAQ: Fighters fill humanitarian vacuum Militia fighters and insurgents responsible
for much of the internecine violence in Iraq are also offering humanitarian assistance to their own communities to fill a vacuum left by the government and aid agencies. http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70170 IRAQ-UAE: Broken dreams for Iraqi children Nine of the 55 Iraqi children who were flown recently to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for
medical treatment are to be sent back to Iraq on Thursday morning because UAE doctors said their cases are hopeless. http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70146 IRAQ: Armed groups
occupy hospitals and kidnap doctors Iraqi troops, US-led coalition forces and insurgents are all guilty of breaking Geneva conventions that govern the neutrality of hospitals, say health
specialists. The increasing risk of being shot or arrested in a hospital in Iraq is preventing ordinary citizens from seeking medical attention. http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70139 IRAQ: Palestinians say gov't cannot protect them Palestinian refugees in Iraq say that despite renewed assurances of protection from the
Iraqi president, they believe they will continue to be persecuted and attacked. http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70106 IRAQ-JORDAN: Healing the brutal face of war Though her name
means 'the sun' in English, 18-month-old Shams may never be able to experience sunlight in her life again. Half her face was blown away in an explosion in Baghdad, leaving her eyes buried under badly
burnt skin. http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70087 IRAQ: Child beggars proliferate in Baghdad Ahmed Saffar, 7, has been forced to beg on the streets of Baghdad in order to eat.
An orphan with two brothers and one sister, Ahmed hangs around all day near a traffic light, asking for money from each driver who stops. http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70089 ISRAEL-OPT: More Palestinians entering Israel on health grounds More and more Palestinians are gaining permission to enter Israel and East Jerusalem for medical reasons – one of the few ways
they can still obtain a permit. http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70200 ISRAEL-LIBERIA: Refugees appeal to government to extend stay Members of the small Liberian community in Tel
Aviv have appealed to the Israeli government to allow them to extend their stay in Israel. http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70198 LEBANON: Razor wire and soldiers keep factions
apart The girl was a veiled Sunni Muslim but waved the flag of the Lebanese Forces, once one of the country's most powerful Christian militias. She was marking the second anniversary of former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination with a call for the downfall of the Shia-led opposition, camping out less than 100 metres away. http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70180 LEBANON: Pro-government group urges peace after deadly bombing Leaders of the Lebanese pro-government 'March 14' group warned that the country was sliding towards Iraq-style sectarian violence after
at least three people were killed in explosions that hit two buses travelling through a Christian-majority mountain town outside Beirut. http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70147
